I've got an original japanese one I picked up on eBay for £50. I highly recommend them if you can find one. I think they have a 95 nanometer process which is high by today's standards but the Japanese ones are well made and run quiet, it's the later Chinese ones that are hot and noisy.
The other benefit of the Japanese ones is they have the full PS1 and PS2 hardware inside so once you've hacked them they're great for playing PS2 games as they run them properly rather than through emulation, which is what I use mine for. I maintain that the PS2 library is the best so far so it's worth it just for that.
The X and I buttons are reversed but you can switch those round in the CFW if you prefer the western button layout.
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